There was always something about demon camps she found unsettling. Maybe it was the smell. Or perhaps it was the way sticky oppressive nature of the latent shadow magics that had been practiced here. The not so subtle warping of nature that made it a struggle for even sun or moonlight to reveal the area.

Perhaps it was better that the darkness hid the evidence of horrors and defilement that had occurred here. But what low-light eyes failed to note, her olfactory senses had little trouble detecting. Blood, urine and other scents she struggled to ignore were everywhere.

Sentinel Shadowcreek shuddered at the thought of whatever had been going on here. A few days earlier, a squad of Sentinels had gone arrived and exterminated this coven. There’d been a few casualties, but the camp, a mere twenty kilometers from their garrison, had to be removed. The threat to the Shaded Hemlock was deemed too high.

It’d been only been a month since she’d arrived at the Shaded Hemlock, the garrison led by Sundar Stormchaser. The request for her assistance had come from the archdruid himself and considering her antagonistic history with the Stormchaser family, it’d been a surprise.

Not one to miss an opportunity to travel outside of Teldrassil, Izdazi had accepted the unpredicted request once she’d been assured she wouldn’t be trading one guard post for another. She longed to work in the wilderness and her duties ranged from hunting, scouting and mapping, to raiding parties, like the one responsible for the eradication of this demon camp.

Her transition to a Sentinel had been rocky one, but she was determined not to squander the second chance her mother had given with her dying breath. Nor did she want to give Sundar a reason to send her back to Darnasus.

Still, she chafed at the nature of the chain-of-command. Despite her mother being a renowned Sentinel, Izdazi had never aspired to become one. She worked better independently.

Nor did it help that a Warden, of all people, was heading military operations. Considering the time she spent imprisoned in the Barrows, she didn’t particularly like Wardens.

While Warden Snowraven wasn’t nearly the brute her jailors had been, she was yet another reminder that Izdazi was just a cog in a machine.

The sound of galloping hooves rang in her ear and she looked up in time to see a figure fast approaching astride a talbuk. As they approached, the newcomer was revealed to be a draenei.

She brought her talbuk close to Izdazi’s sabre and hopped off. Her hooves sunk into the soil as she detached her backpack and staff from the talbuk’s saddle.

“Took you long enough,” Izdazi complained as she approached her. The draenei, Niashado, shot her a scowl but didn’t reply as she studied the charred remains of the camp. Had they not known each other in years past, Izdazi knew her first thought would be to compare the draenei with any of the numerous demons she’d encountered on Azeroth and now Draenor. Her downward curved horns, long slender tail and cloven hooves were too similar to ignore to her kind’s more demonic cousins.

But the similarities ended there. Her white glowing eyes took in the scene with a quiet resolve. Only the slight flick of her tail signaled her revulsion at being here. Izdazi noted with approval that Niashado was wearing a leather jerkin and kilt. She knew the shamaness despised wearing armor. Then again, the shamaness didn’t often have a reason to venture far beyond the garrison walls.

“It has been two days since this coven was removed,” Niashado began in a soft voice that didn’t return any of the brashness of her own. “Why did you summon me here?”

“I found something that I think you can help me identify. Come on,” Izdazi replied with a tilt of her head. Brushing her own dark blue dreadlocks from her eyes she led the shamaness some distance from the camp until they were at a rock outcropping. Wedged between two large boulders was an opening that led downward. “Watch your step. The climb down is a little tricky.”

A few minutes later they were at the cave floor. She expected Niashado to have some trouble with the climb, but the draenei revealed an affinity for steep rocky terrain and nimbly made her way down.

“How’s Metal Arm doing?” Izdazi asked, trying to start some small talk as they walked deeper into the cave.

“Please, do not call him that,” the shamaness replied. Despite the politeness of her words, there was an unmistakable sternness in her tone.

“He is well. Sundar is keeping him busy. And can you blame him for avoiding you?”

“I only tried to kill him once,” Izdazi joked back, chuckling to herself. “Must be nice, the two of you having your own cabin in the garrison.”

“If you are trying to suggest that there was some nepotism involved in our acquiring of a cabin, the dwarven couple from the Explorer’s League received the first one,” the shamaness replied, not raising her voice at Izdazi’s baiting.

“Right!” Izdazi said, snapping her fingers sarcastically. “Anyway, the chamber should be right about here.”

They stepped into a large round chamber. She heard Niashado gasp at the sheer size of it.

The floors, walls and ceiling were covered in etched circles. Spaced every meter or so was a glowing crystal emanating a sickly green glow. And at the center was some sort of thick pole covered in glyphs and topped with another sickly green circle.

“This was not in the report the field officer submitted after the battle,” the shamaness stated as she brushed her hands under her bangs. She prodded at various things on the ground with her staff while carefully walking along the wall.

Izdazi knelt down and picked up a brownish skull. She couldn’t begin to identify what kind of creature it came from, but it emitted a horrible scent. The night elf looked back at the shaman as she pushed over more debris on the floor with her staff.

“Afraid to touch things?” Izdazi joked.

“Do you have any idea what the demons may have done with that skull?” she countered, without bothering to look toward the huntress.

Izdazi thought about it for a moment and then dropped the skull in disgust. Wiping her hands on her leggings she followed Niashado as she continued to scout the perimeter. “Well?”

“I do not understand what you called me here for. This should be reported to the garrison at once. Not to me.”

Izdazi gestured at the object in the center. “Isn’t that a totem? Seems kind of shaman magic in nature.”

Niashado looked at the totem and shook her head. “It is similar to a totem, in that it is used as a focus for magical energies, but it is certainly not natural magic. This, this is relating to fel sorcery. Shadow magic of an advance degree.”

The draenei continued to study the walls in silence, leaving Izdazi impatient for an answer. The claustrophobia she was struggling with since entering this underground sanctum was starting to grow worse.

“I cannot determine the purpose of this chamber,” the shamaness finally announced. “This is not my area of expertise. There are draenei anchorites who have studied demonic spell casting.

“There is even a warlock in the garrison who can help,” Niashado added with a hint of aversion.

Izdazi scoffed and brushed her boot under one of the circles, smearing the amethyst dust along the floor. “So, this was a waste of time.”

“I cannot begin to hypothesize its use. The circles are damaged and several glyphs are missing,” Niashado explained. “Like I said, you should report this.”

The huntress shook her head and sighed. She’d didn’t want to be underground anymore either. She studied the crude totem for a moment. “Fine. Let’s take this back with us at least. Maybe we can save a trip.”

“NO! Do not-“

As Izdazi’s fingers grazed the sides of the totem there was sickly flash of green light…

… then nothing.

* * *

“Ugh, what the hell was that?” the huntress groaned as she struggled to get up. Her boots felt strange on her feet.

She brushed her dreadlocks back, noting that her hair seemed different. Then, her hand struck something hard just over her ear. Horns?! Eyes widen in horror, Izdazi looked down and screamed at the hooves where her feet once were.

“What the hell! What the hell!” She scanned around the cave frantically and found herself looking back at herself… who was busy staring at her hands with terror etched about her visage.

“This… this is not right,” her body shouted back at her.

“You think?” Izdazi cried out, still not believing the unfamiliar voice coming out of her throat. She got up on shaky legs and then fell down. “How the hell do you walk in these things?”

“I am wondering that myself,” Niashado replied calmly. Her head cocked sideways as she stared at her boots. “This is a strange sensation.”

It took a moment for Izdazi to realize that Niashado was moving her toes inside her boots.

“Zin Elune! Are you kidding me?!” she shouted back. “You’re in my body and you’re caught up with the fact that you toes! I think we have more pressing concerns.”

Nia shook her head and started tugging on her dreadlocks. “How can you stand having this kind of hair? It is disconcerting having these things brushing over my shoulder and neck.”

“Its just hair, damnit! No stranger than these… tendrils,” Izdazi snapped as she finally managed to get to her hooves. She wobbled a bit and had to take a few careful steps before she got the hang of it. But the kilt was another major annoyance. “You need to wear pants more often.”

“How are you not cold in this uniform?” Niashado complained as she also got unsteadily to her feet. Adapting quickly, she moved over to the totem and studied it closely. “I do not understand how this happened.”

While Niashado studied the totem, Izdazi couldn’t but to stare at her blue hands. She yelped when she felt something brush against her… tail? Looking back, she saw the tip of Niashado’s… HER… tail. She kept turning, trying to get a good view of it.

“This is a ridiculously strange experience,” Izdazi fired back. “I have a tail!”

“No. You have MY tail. Get over it,” the shamaness fired back with unexpected harshness. She softened her voice a moment later. “This is a new experience for both of us, but we need to calm down.”

“What if… what if we touch it again?” Izdazi suggested, carefully approaching the totem. “Do you think it will return us to our original bodies?”

Niashado seemed to think it over and then shrugged. “It cannot hurt. Touch it.”

“Alright then,” Izdazi said, taking a deep breath through lungs that didn’t even feel familiar. Closing her eyes, she touched it with a long fingernail.

Nothing happened.

She tapped it again. Touched it.

Then she held it.

Finally, she was grasping it with both hands.

Nothing happened.

She gestured for Niashado to touch it, which she did.

Still, nothing happened.

“Not good. Not good at all,” Izdazi murmured. “This cannot be happening!” She started to shake the totem but was stopped by Niashado, snatching the totem away.

“Stop that before you break it!” she yelled. She set the totem back on the pedestal. “It is getting dark outside. We cannot remain here.”

“We sure as hell can’t go back to the Shaded Hemlock. Do you have any idea how much trouble we’ll be in,” she said, while swatting her tail down.

“I have a dinner date with Jaou tonight. If I am not at the garrison, he will likely start looking,” Niashado replied. Her calmness was getting on Izdazi’s nerves. “And if you do not report to formation this evening, you will be in trouble.”

“I should have reported this, instead of taking it upon myself to investigate it…” Izdazi sighed. She couldn’t believe this was happening, but another look at her blue hand, the outfit and finally the hooves further confirmed the truth of the situation. “Fine. We go. But we’re coming back at first light tomorrow.”

“Izdazi. We need help.”

“No. We can’t tell anyone. Not until we’ve exhausted everything we could do. This is a serious screw up and Warden Snowraven is going to have my ass for this,” she pleaded.

“Izdazi. I know nothing of being a Sentinel. You know even less of being a shaman and an herbalist. I am not going to even mention you with Jaou.”

Izdazi shook her head and sighed. She wasn’t comfortable with either option. Nor did it seem right to argue with what appeared to be yourself.

“Look. Just one day. If we can’t solve this in a day we’ll call for help,” she pleaded.

“Very well. One day,” Niashado surrendered. “But this will not be easy.”

“Oh, I have the perfect plan. No one will know,” Izdazi replied with a wry smile. Her tail brushed against the cave wall again, causing her to spin around and find the source of contact.

It was late evening when they arrived at the garrison. As planned Izdazi in Niashado’s body snuck back to the cabin the draenei shared with Jaou. Her plan was to play sick. A plan made more convincing by an herb Niashado had given her that caused her to break into a mild fever.

The plan was simple. Play sick and hopefully no one would notice until later the next day when hopefully they’d be gone.

Hopefully.

~~~

Meanwhile, Niashado in Izdazi’s body snuck into the parade field just barely in time for inspection. There, the officer in charge, a night elf Ranger by the name of Mateus Galeclaw inspected the soldiers.

“You’re late Shadowcreek,” he snapped as he arrived at her.

“Sorry. Sorry, sir,” Niashado stammered back nervously.

Mateus narrowed his eyes for a moment but then moved past her to finish the inspection. Niashado let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

The Shaded Hemlock was ever busy as usual. Works and patrols ran around the clock, keeping vigil in their corner of Shadowmoon Valley. Their appointed commander, Sundar Stormchaser, had built up the unaffiliated garrison well, though he also had his own duties to attend to. In his absence, Warden Snowraven took over his charge. With her armour on, save for her gloves and a mask she replaced her helm with when out of combat situations, she sat behind a desk, sorting through a pile of documents for their treant secretary to file properly.

Snowraven peered out of the tinted office window that looked over the whole of the garrison courtyard. Everything was in working order; while there was a sense of urgency in working, there was no alarm to be had, and that was a blessing given the state of the territory and the neighbouring lands. The months before saw much progress, and even with a new garrison like the Shaded Hemlock, they saw the results of their work. Once their duties were done, the land would be reclaimed by the valley’s natural environment. The only signs of their presence would be the lives they helped protect and the elimination of the forces that sought to destroy the peace of Shadowmoon Valley.

As it should be, the warden though as she took a drink of her water. A knock was heard upon the office door. “Enter,” the warden bade.

Two male night elves walked through the door, both in dark leather armour, though one was notably taller than the average kaldorei. The shorter of the two was the first to take off his hood, revealing his deep green hair, the taller male revealed his violet hair and scarred face to the warden.

“Revar, Jaou, you’re both back, though later than anticipated,” Snowraven remarked. “I take it something else came up after reconnaissance?”

Ravenstar placed his report on the desk and swept his bangs back with a hand. “There was a matter of a merchant cart from the Shadowmoon Exiles being attacked by some remnants of the main Shadowmoon clan,” he explained.

“We added it to the report,” Jaou mentioned. “We also managed to find some enemy dossiers and communiqués that need analysis and verification on their validity.”

Warden Snowraven flipped through the report briefly, taking note of any irregularities. She also gave a cursory look at the collected documents with a discerning air. While the atmosphere around the warden seemed cold and unwelcoming to others, Ravenstar and Jaou knew when she was pleased and when she was not. This time she was quite pleased.

“They’re finally feeling the dent in their numbers, the demons,” she remarked flatly. “Good work, though I expected no less from the two of you. And their summoning crystals?”

“Replaced with duplicate unaspected crystals, as planned,” Ravenstar explained. The rogue looked toward the south. “They should be having quite the fun time with their apparatus seizes up.”

“I see a note of a new demon commander present,” Snowraven stated as she continued through the report.

Jaou nodded. “A female man’ari eredar., and she doesn’t match any profile of known commanders that we have information on. At our discretion, we decided to sabotage more of their base to keep her busy. Right now our relief should be keeping her under observation as well.”

“She doesn’t seem to be too active for now,” Ravenstar shrugged. “But we’ll want to distract her as much as possible.”

The warden nodded and continued through the report without another word. It appeared that their progress could hit a snag with this new commander, but they would deal with it as they have in the past with their replacements. She pulled out a mission form and started to write the details required on it.

“We’ll assemble a team to assess, and consequently, eliminate this threat,” Snowraven said. “Now for less formal talk.” She leaned forward, locking her slender hands together with her forearms resting on the desk. Her steady gaze was on Jaou, which quickly brought him to attention and standing more proper than ever. Ravenstar had a feeling what she was going to ask about. “Well, Jaou, have you done it yet?”

The violet haired elf straightened and seemed slightly taken aback. “Um, done... what...? I was... supposed to do something?”

“The proposal, child!” the warden answered back with a bite. “Have you gone through with it?”

“I, er, that is...” the ranger stammered as he felt her judging eyes upon him. “It didn’t quite happen...”

Ravenstar raised a hand, to stop Jaou. “To the point that he’ll eventually make, they were interrupted and the moment became less private and ideal.”

The she-elf sighed and shook her head. “Didn’t you say that you were going to ask her when she had come back?”

“It’s not been that long since she came back,” the older rogue spoke up.

“Not the point,” the warden sternly countered and eyed Jaou even more intensely. “Time marches forward, my child, and we aren’t getting any younger. It’s about time you asked Niashado.”

Ravenstar subconsciously nodded in agreement. Everyone in their circle was expecting and waiting for it to happen. Most of their friends agreed that it was long overdue, though it seemed that Jaou and Niashado were either dancing circles around each other on the matter, or perhaps it was their timid disposition. Either way, their friends have been hinting towards a union as subtly as possible.

The older elf looked at his colleague to see hwo he was faring and noted the darker purple his complexion had taken. Jaou’s embarrassment was plain to see, though Ravenstar found it amusing, if not unexpected.

They’ll get around to it soon, I’m sure, Ravenstar mused.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Jaou had excused himself from Snowraven’s office, leaving her and Ravenstar to discuss other topics in private. The ranger walked from the office towards his private cabin, occasionally receiving greetings from the soldiers and workers of the garrison that he passed by, though given his chequered past and his outward appearance, there were still some stilted interactions with acquaintances and passersby. Not fully back to normal, but probably as normal as it’ll get.

He opened the cabin door and entered. Jaou was quick to head for the sealed weapon case to shed his arms, and then proceeded to take off his armour for a drop off at the armoury for repairs and cleaning. The kaldorei noted that his equipment was not the only set there. Leaned up against the wall was Niashado’s staff and bag. Oh, she’s home already? Jaou glanced around and found no sign of her, but he heard some rustling coming from their bedroom. Falathir is out with Sundar, and Ganymede is at the stables...

Jaou approached the door, knocking and opening it ever so slightly, enough to see a covered lump upon their bed. “Nia, are you awake?” he asked softly.

“We’re getting low now,” she replied. “Zherrus and the twins should be back with a good haul of herbs in the next few days, so we shouldn’t need to worry about running out. Baelyth is keeping on top of use and inventory himself.”

“I see, if we do run short, I can contact the locals and see if they can spare any herbs,” the male elf stated. He casually rolled his shoulder and turned about to leave. “Well, I should be checking in with Bael, see if he needs any help. Oh, and Val?”

“Yes, Revar?”

“Take it easy on the kids, the time will come when it’s right. Jaou is trying.”

The warden contemplated his words for a moment, in the end though, she nodded. “I suppose I’m becoming a little too eager. I’ll contact you for the next mission.”

Ravenstar bowed in return before he exited the office. While he was going to the infirmary, he decided to make a quick stop at the training court. There, Mateus was overlooking the sparring that was taking place at current. While he had trained for the Wardens, he had found a position with the Rangers, climbing the ranks with success. Ravenstar approached the elf, standing by his side and watching the soldiers spar.

“Keeping their skills sharp?” Ravenstar inquired.

Mateus turned around and saluted his superior officer. “Sir!” Though he quickly dropped the formality, as Ravenstar cared not for ranks. “They’re doing well, but it seems that there’s something going on with Izdazi.”

The older rogue raised a brow. “Dare I even ask?”

“It’s nothing pressing, but she is uncharacteristically polite, and well...” Mateus flicked his head towards Izdazi amongst the soldiers for Ravenstar to see. “I know she isn’t the best at close quarter combat...”

Ravenstar was most perplexed at what he saw. She appeared to move with less certainty, less precision. It was clumsy, sloppy, and even for her is was odd. How do you even get worse at something?

“I think we should have a chat with her,” Ravenstar suggested. “See if something is wrong.”

Mateus nodded and followed the rogue as they made their way to Izdazi’s position. “Shadowcreek,” Mateus called. “A word, if we may. It seems that something is... off...”

Ravenstar merely stood by, remaining observant to her behaviour. Let’s see what game you’re up to now.

The cabin was a small humble building with only a few small rooms. The entrance had opened to small living space. There wasn’t much in the way of furniture; just two chairs and a table with a book on it. The kitchen wasn’t stocked with pots and pans, but that made sense considering, like most individuals in the garrison, the tavern was where they went to consume meals and socialize.

Izdazi laid Niashado’s staff against the wall and dropped the backpack unceremoniously on the floor next to a closed weapons chest. There were two closed doors in the back. Curious as the way this couple lived; Izdazi opened one of the doors and was surprised to find an art studio. A large drawing table dominated the back wall, on which several sketches had been carefully drawn on parchment. Most were of animals and plants native to Draenor. Other larger drawings were on their own stands or leaning stacked against the wall. The smell of paint was heavy in the air.

Izdazi was impressed. It’d been difficult to see Jaou as little else than a target. And even once he’d been restored as an elf, she still couldn’t help but to harbor resentment for how much grief it had caused her when she tried to take him out (while he was a cursed demon, of course.)

To some level, she saw Niashado as the innocent, naïve girl who thought everyone could be redeemed and wanted everyone to hold hands and sing songs in peace. Over time she’d realized that the shamaness wasn’t that simple. Yes, the draenei was naïve, and she’d be the last person to pull a weapon. But, Izdazi had been surprised at the times the shamaness had stepped in to protect her friends, and even, her enemies. She truly didn’t want to see things turn to bloodshed, but nor was she was fool.

Nothing is ever simple, Izdazi decided with a verbal grunt as she carefully shut the door to the studio. The other room was the bedroom with a bed for two, a small table and two wardrobes.

Inwardly, Izdazi groaned. The thought of sharing a bed with Jaou was less than appealing. She may have made peace with the formerly turned-satyr, but that was a far difference from sharing a bed. Even if she was in Niashado’s body, this was wrong.

“Here’s to hoping I can chase him off,” she muttered while pealing off the leather armor. Not bothering to place the armor in the wardrobe, she just dropped it on the floor. Nor did she bother changing out of the robes she’d been wearing underneath.

Withdrawing a small glass ampule, she studied the brownish liquid with the floating leaf inside. With a slight cringe, she downed the contents and then coughed.

“Shit, this stuff is fast,” she gasped as her brow glistened with sweat. The room started to spin and she fell back on the soft bed. Then her stomach growled and the first pain hit her just as the chills began. Wrapping herself in blankets, Izdazi moaned in pain and tried to get some shuteye.

She quietly wondered if the effects of this potion were Niashado’s way of getting back at her.

~~~~

“What the hell, Izdazi!” the sentinel she’d been sparring against complained.

“Sorry,” Niashado replied meekly as she picked up the moonglaive she’d dropped for the third time during sparring practice. “I am not feeling good today.”

“Whatever,” the green-haired warrior barked as she surged forward. Niashado parried the strike with her glaive shoved ahead. She’d hoped to make a more offensive strike but just as she tried she grew concerned that she might injure her sparring partner. This was not at all as easy as it seemed when she’d seen the Sentinels in training.

It took Niashado a moment to realize that Mateus was calling her. Nodding to her opponent, she made her way to the commanding officer. She noted Ravenstar was standing a little ways away but was watching intently.

She shook her head, cringing slightly at the feeling of the dreadlocks brushing against her ears. She was unused to volume of sounds that the kal’dorei ears now afforded her.

“Sir?” she said, stepping up. “I-I am not feeling well today.”

Mateus narrowed his eyes and sniffed slightly before shaking his head.

“Not feeling well is hardly a suitable reason for your performance this evening.”

“I know, sir. I apologize but I think I am coming down with something. Maybe it was something I ate,” she added. “I would like permission to rest. I will be happy to work a double shift to make up for this time.”

Mateus seemed to consider it for a moment. He shot a quick glance at Ravenstar before nodding. “Go get some rest. I’ll check in later.”

“Thank you sir,” Niashado relied with a slight bow of her head before leaving the parade grounds.

Izdazi’s tent was still within the garrison walls but as far as possible from the other buildings around. It always perplexed Niashado that Izdazi didn’t stay in the barracks like the other Sentinels. Somehow she’d managed to convince Sundar to allow her to do this.

The camp was small and well organized. Just a tent, a small fire pit and stool. It was atop a ridge overlooking the marshlands below.

Sitting on the stool, Niashado pulled off the gloves and stared at the light purple skin of her hands.

I should have told Mateus and Ravenstar. I have no idea if I can even correct this problem.

~~~~

Izdazi opened her eyes at the sound of the cabin door opening. There was likely only one person it could be and she’d be dreading it since returning to the Shaded Hemlock.

Her plan to pretend to be asleep was further complicated by her inability to sleep on her side and look away from the bedroom door. The horns kept her staring at the ceiling.

How the hell did Jaou ever manage to survive with horns when he was satyr? For that matter, how does Niashado even sleep like this? she mentally complained.

The bedroom door opened and she shut her eyes. Footsteps approached the bed.

“Nia, are you awake?” Jaou asked softly.

Oh Elune, help me figure out how to survive this.

“Jaou?” she groaned, feigning illness, which wasn’t a difficult feat to accomplish giving that she really wasn’t feeling well to start with.

Izdazi opened her eyes to see Jaou’s scarred face looking down at her with concern in his eyes.

The demons really did do a number on you, she realized. It was the closest she’d ever been to him and the injuries he’d endured while being held by them was unmistakable.

“I think I’m coming down with a bug or something,” she said. “I- ummm- I might be contagious. I don’t want you getting sick.”

~~~~

Mateus walked up the Ravenstar. “That was the single strangest conversation I’ve ever had with Izdazi." The veteran seemed to think it over and finally shook his head. "She's up to something."

Last edited by Izdazi on Mon Jan 11, 2016 12:42 pm; edited 1 time in total

Ravenstar crossed his arms and kept a close eye on Izdazi as Mateus spoke with her, but he was already scrutinizing the Sentinel. Izdazi was acting rather strangely. The way in which she reacted to Mateus and how she replied was very much subdued, and not full of her usual sassy mannerisms. To Ravenstar’s knowledge, there was nothing unusual about Izdazi when he left for his mission with Jaou, but seeing her now, he had to wonder what was going on. It was doubtful that she would suddenly decide to be wholly respectful, but also becoming meek and unskilled as a Sentinel. I’m starting to wonder if she fell and hit her head out in the field, this is too strange.

He noticed that Mateus turned to his direction with a nod. Ravenstar returned the gesture, and awaited news from the veteran officer. Mateus had a few more words with Iadazi before the she-elf politely inclined in a small bow and left in the direction of her camp. Mateus returned to Ravenstar, though he did not look particularly without any suspicions.

“That was the single strangest conversation I’ve ever had with Izdazi,” Mateus stated. He thought to himself for a moment before shaking his head. "She's up to something."

“I have to wonder what it could be,” Ravenstar mused. “It doesn’t excuse her poor performance, and seeing her being so courteous is strange. I think I prefer her old mouthy self.”

“I do as well,” Mateus replied. He brought a hand up to his chin in thought. “She was in the field not too long ago, I wonder if her squad would know anything.”

“It could be worth it to check, even if she goes off on her own most of the time. I’m getting curious about this myself. I don’t have any missions lined up yet, so I’ll see if I can shadow her,” the older rogue suggested. “Though I have a stop to make first, before I do that.”

“I’ll keep you up to date in the meantime. I have to get the sparring session moving along, the death knights are going to be back soon to use the training yard.”

Ravenstar nodded and started on his way to the infirmary, giving Mateus a wave.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

“I think I’m coming down with a bug or something,” Niashado said. “I- ummm- I might be contagious. I don’t want you getting sick.”

The draenei certainly looked and sounded ill. Her face was flush and glistened with sweat. The thing that caught Jaou off guard was how she spoke. For the time being, he cast the thought aside and proceeded to take off his gloves and placed them on the table. He places the back of his right hand on her forehead, noting her rather high temperature.

“I’ll be right back,” the ranger said. He left the room, leaving the door open, and went straight into the kitchen and retrieved a bowl and a towel. Jaou started a small fire in the stove and placed the bowl on the metal cook-top. As it was warming, he grabbed a silver container and poured water into the bowl. While he was waiting for the water to heat up, he started to wonder how long the shamaness was developing a cold. She hasn’t shown any symptoms when I last saw her, maybe she’s pushing herself again.

Coming more to the fore of the ranger’s mind was how she replied to him. When she was ill, there was generally little worry about being contagious. Her manner of speech was also more casual than usual. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Nia use contractions in any situation before. The sudden change in her vocabulary was not something he could attribute to being ill.

His eyes drifted over to his studio. He had placed a present for Niashado inside for safe keeping, and to keep it as a surprise. He was going to give it to her tonight, but with her ill, their date would have to be put on hold and it would be a bad time to propose. He smiled lightly and sighed. Another opportunity will present itself.

He turned off the stove, and tested the water temperature with his right hand. It was lukewarm, just the temperature he needed. He took the bowl, placing the towel into the water and going into the living area to retrieve a chair, before returning to their room. Jaou placed the chair at the bedside and sat down and he set the bowl upon the table. He rung the towel of excess water and began to wipe away the sweat upon Niashado’s forehead.

“I see you went out to the field today,” Jaou said softly. “Did the fever start while you were out?”

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Ravenstar entered the building marked as the infirmary. While there was never a day that it was empty since the garrison was set up, they had been able to curb the injuries suffered by their troops in the past weeks, and even take in local residents of the draenei communities. As the elf walked through the ever busy halls, he could hear the various healers and doctors going about their work and tending to patients.

He approached the laboratory, where they prepared various medicines and alchemical work. He should be still be here. Ravenstar was about to knock when he noticed a sign hung around the door knob. ’In use, will return shortly.’ He wondered where Baelyth would be going in the middle of his shift.

“Are you looking for Baelyth sir?”

Ravenstar turned around to find a pandaren healer passing by. He offered the healer a polite bow and nodded. “He said he would be working here today.”

“He had to step out for some herbs from the garden,” the pandaren replied. “We’re down an order for in house herbs.”

I know we’re starting to run low on stocks for foreign herbs, but the garden is usually on top of orders.

“Thanks, I’ll see about meeting him on the way there.”

The rogue left the infirmary and went on his way to the garrison garden. It was not too far from the medical centre, and provided fresh produce and herbs to the garrison, as well as a place for recuperating patients to relax and help for therapy. Attached to the greenhouse was the office for the garden. Ravenstar had a feeling that Baelyth was inside, seeing no sign of Baelyth in the field. Entering the office, he found his partner signing out paperwork for the herbs he was looking for.

“Doing some extra work there, Bael?” Ravenstar asked.

The casually-dressed high elf looked up from the forms. With a smile as he brushed his hand through his auburn hair, he simply shrugged. “I can’t work without the requisite ingredients! I thought I could sneak out before you got back.”

“Did something happen with the order?”

“It seems that they never received it,” Baelyth said. “No loss on my part though. I’m just refilling salves and draughts. Still, I was expecting to see Miss Niashado with the order. I wonder if she was caught up in something else.”

I wonder... No, it’s only an isolated case...

“Perhaps, we’ll inquire about it later,” Ravenstar said. “It’s a singular instance, probably nothing to worry about. Now let’s get those orders made.”

Oh Elune, this just gets better, Izdazi grimly mulled as Jaou brought a chair next to their bed and started wiping her forehead with a warm towel. She felt her cheeks grow warm, although it was more from mortification than from the warmth of the soaked towel he using.

“I see you went out to the field today,” Jaou said softly. “Did the fever start while you were out?”

Iz nodded, but it became apparent that he was expecting her to elaborate.

Ugh, Nia. How can you stand this doting?

“I have been trying to recall what may have happened,” Izdazi replied carefully, trying to will herself to speak slowly. Niashado had rehearsed this with her before returning to the garrison. “I was picking some herbs when I accidently disturbed a Ragveil bloom. It spurt a cloud spore in my face before I could back away. Don’t worry about me. I should be better in the morning. This is a common allergy to-“

Izdazi suddenly started sneezing uncontrollably for almost half a minute straight before finally settling down in bef. “It will pass,” she muttered tiredly through a stuffed nose.

~~~~

Five little toes. They seemed so tiny compared to the hooves she was used to. Too small and too tiny to be as effective as they were.

It had taken some troubleshooting, but Niashado had finally managed to remove most of the Sentinel armor from her… well, Izdazi’s body. But it wasn’t until she’d removed everything but one of the bracers (which was proving to be much more complicated than the other) and a boot, that she’d become fascinated with the foot and the five toes that came with it.

She’d seen barefeet from other soft-footed races before. But this was an entirely unexpected and new experience. She was controlling the toes. She was feeling them.

It was quite startling when she’d first discovered that Jaou’s feet were ticklish. But now, as she brushed a twig along her toes, she was realizing how sensitive they were. A slight giggle escaped her lips as she brushed them a few times more.

Then, standing up, Niashado straightened the short-sleeve shirt and shorts she was wearing and walked around Izdazi’s camp. Like many night elves, Izdazi had walked barefooted for many years and her feet had grown tough. Still, it was uncomfortable to feel the forest debris stabbing at her fleshy feet. It made sense that they’d wear shoes.

She finished a circuit around the unlit campfire and put the boots back on.

The next thing she had to work on was removing this strange, slightly oversized bracer Izdazi kept on her left wrist. She’d never seen anything like it. There were strings and small pulleys arrayed around it. Niashado traced one of the strings coming from the bracer and found it tied around her middle finger.

She tried shaking it off and squeezing her hand through, but device was on tightly. The shamaness tried tugging on some of the strings but nothing happened. Her hand accidently brushed against a small latch and with a hard click, two armatures snapped outward, pulling a thicker string taught against a rod set inside the bracer.

“What is this thing?” she grumbled, again trying to shake it loose.

“What is what thing?” someone asked from behind her. With a frightened yelp, Niashado stood and spun around. Still unused to her legs, she started to tumble back over the stool. Splaying her hands out wildly, she balled her fist tightly and without realizing it, pulled on the string around finger. There was a second heavy click and a powerful recoil along her left arm.

Niashado fell back unceremoniously on the ground even as she heard someone scream in pain.

Glancing up, she brushed the dreadlocks from her eyes and saw another night elf on the ground clutching his upper arm. His shirt was starting to stain with a rapidly widening red blotch where a crossbow bolt was imbedded.

“Oh, by the Light!” she gasped rushing over to him. “Do not remove it,” she ordered when he reached for it.

“What the hell, Izdazi!?” he yelled. Niashado was beginning to wonder how many times in a day Izdazi heard that phrase, even as she checked his wound. “Do you shoot all your visitors?”

“No,” Niashado replied, quickly trying to figure out how the huntress would normally responded. “Just the ones who sneak up unannounced.”

“We’re inside the damn garrison. No need to be trigger happy,” he barked.

“Let me see if I can heal this,” Niashado replied while pulling his shirt from the wound.

“You’re a healer now?”

Niashado suddenly paused. Izdazi wasn’t a healer. Now that she was Izdazi, she couldn’t be trying to heal people. Besides, she didn’t even have her totems.

Am I even able to call upon the Elements while in this body? A good question to say the least. Could Izdazi utilize any of her magic? She didn’t think it was possible. The relationship between shaman and elements isn’t tied to the body, rather the soul, or being. It was complicated, but this could open some odd possibilities.

“Hello? Are you going to answer me,” the night elf demanded, snapping her from her revere.

“I-I can render first aid. That is what I meant by healing. Let me grab my kit,” she got up and started digging through her rucksack.

“Left pocket. First aid kits are always in the left pocket,” he called out to her. Somewhat sheepishly, she went to the pocket he highlighted and pulled out the first aid kit.

“I hear you screwed up in practice today,” the night elf said as she tended to his injury. “I guess your aim is still good,” he added with a derisive chuckle.

“I am not feeling good today,” she replied somewhat amusedly. “Perhaps if I were feeling better my aim would have been much improved.”

His amused visage faltered and there was a quiet pause. “You know, it’s really hard to tell when you’re joking.”

“Well, I am not joking when I say this will hurt,” she answered before abrupty pulling the bolt out. Surprised by her strength, she held his arm steady even as he fought to reel it away from her. Then, she pressed a potion-soaked wad of bandage on his arm and used another roll to hold it in place. “Remain still, please.”

“A little rough today, aren’t you?”

“You surprised me,” Niashado answered evenly. “Why are you here?”

“Well, I wanted to know if you wanted to go into the village with me tonight,” he asked with unexpected meekness. Niashado paused and her eyes widened. She finally took notice of the elf lying by her. He was handsome. Not like Jaou, but more like a young soldier. His raven hair was set in a ponytail and he dark purple skin. She couldn’t remember ever seeing him in the garrison.

“You mean, as in a date?” she asked incredulously

“Well, you could call it that. In fact, I think it’d be great if we did call it a date,” he asked.

“I do not even know you.”

“What? We talked the other day. When my ranger unit first arrived at Shaded Hemlock,” he answered. “I said I thought you were pretty and you kind of sneered at me.”

“That sounds somewhat familiar,” the shamaness replied, even though she was responding more to the completely expected reaction from Izdazi. Then, shaking her head, she held her hands out. “Today is not a good day. As you heard, I was very poor at practice. I am not feeling well. And you need to see a healer right away. How about, we go into town at the end of the week?”

“Wait. You’re saying ‘yes,’” the raven haired ranger responded.

“Y-yes?” Niashado replied carefully.

“Great then. Wow.” From the way he was responding, Niashado got the impression Izdazi would not have agreed to this. “This is great. I’ll see you at the end of the week. Just, please don’t shoot me when I return.”

“You will be safe next time you come here,” Niashado replied with a smile. She watched him go. He was still holding his injured arm.

We better fix this before then. And I hope Izdazi does not shoot me for agreeing to this.

Something about Niashado still was not sitting well with Jaou. She was acting rather standoffish towards him, and she seemed to be acting rather dodgy in their conversation. Even when she was ill, she would still be open to the ranger, or at least more open than she was acting now. He brought a hand to his mouth and chin as he pondered about the current situation.

Her story with the ragveil spores had credence to it. Jaou remembered being told about the effects of inhaling the spores from the fungus, and accidents happened. He wanted to inquire further, but it would put her under more stress, and she needed her rest while she was ill. He was taken out of his thoughts when she started to sneeze in rapid succession. When it finally ended, she spoke again.

“It will pass,” she murmured,

Jaou sat for a moment, but then he exhaled and sat back. Perhaps he was thinking to deeply about it. "I see," He replied as he lightly wiped her sweat again. "That's an unfortunate accident. Did you want me to get you anything, a meal or tea?"

Niashado shook her head slowly, blinking through puffy and watery eyes. "That's okay. This should be pass by morning. Thank you, though."

It’s so weird hearing her use contractions, he thought to himself.

"Well, I'll open the window a bit for some fresh air. I'll get some stew later on for you tonight. Don't forget to drink more liquids,” Jaou advised. “Will you be alright while I go and clean up?"

The draenei coughed a few times and smiled weakly, though with a hint of awkwardness. "I will. How was your day?"

"It went well. We got the flow of demons stymied some more, for the time being. Right now we're processing the intelligence we gathered," the ranger stated.

"I heard something from one of the Sentinels deployed that they might be using something that looks like a totem. Have you seen anything like that?" she asked between hoarse coughs.

"A totem?" Jaou thought for a moment. It would be the first time something like a totem was mentioned in tandem with demons, but it could have been possible to employ similar technologies with some orcs joining forces with the demons. He could not recall seeing anything that was definitively a totem. "Nothing quite that specific, but they have similar structures."

"Similar structures? So something like it exists," Niashado replied. For a moment, she appeared thoughtful, but it quickly dissolved into a fit of coughing.

Jaou helped the shamaness settle back into the bed, though looked at her for a moment, coking his head ever so slightly. "Is something the matter?"

Her eyes widened, but only for a moment. "No. Nothing is the matters. It's just that I heard the report and was curious. The last thing we need is for the Legion to start mucking up the elemental plane like Xaxas did to Azeroth. But, you are right. There are similarities in the structures."

"Xaxas?” It was a Darnassian term for Neltharion, now known as Deathwing. Xaxas was not a term that was oft used these days, after the mingling of the races, and it was not a term Jaou used himself. “That's the first time I heard you refer to Deathwing as that."

"Oh? Well, I have lived quite awhile among night elves. I pick up on things."

"I guess that’s true..." He thought to himself for a moment, She’s still acting strange, maybe if I come back later. "Well, I'll go get some cleaning and errands done, but I’ll get you a cup of water before I leave, so just relax. Contact me through you communications rune if you need something right away."

The ranger opened the window slightly in their room before he left with the chair and the bowl of water. As he went into the kitchen to drop off the bowl, he heard a rhythmic pattering of stones approaching him. Jaou quickly went to the studio door to make sure it was locked; it was a practiced habit for Jaou. The kaldorei turned around and looked at the floor, to find a rather diminutive and blue rock elemental look up at him with curious yellow ‘eyes.’

“Pebble, you’re home,” Jaou said as he crouched down to greet Niashado’s elemental companion. The small elemental produced a small rock and threw it at Jaou, hitting him right in the forehead, though the force of the throw was miniscule and caused the rock to simply bounce off of the elf. While Jaou was not impressed, though this strange and choice greeting Pebble had for him was a normal occurrence now.

“Hello to you too,” he said giving his forehead a wipe with the back of his hand. “Alright, Nia isn’t feeling too well, and I have to step out for a little bit. Keep it calm for a while?” Pebble quickly circled around a small radius and vibrated in reply. Jaou stood up and prepared to gather his armour. “Okay, stay out of trouble.”

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

“Thanks for the help, love. Shouldn’t you be resting? You’ve been out in the field for the past few days, why not take a break?” Baelyth suggested to Ravenstar as he mixed various tonics at his table.

The older night elf bottled up the various draughts that they had mixed, and carefully labelled them as he did. “I’m fine, I’m not tired.”

“Oh, you always push yourself,” Baelyth said with a chuckle. The quel’dorei continued his current alchemical creation, adding another reagent before letting it react and sit in the solution he made. He looked over to the crates around Ravenstar’s table. “Well, that should keep us stocked for a while.”

“That was the idea,” Ravenstar quipped. “Now you can work on special orders.”

“More importantly.” Baelyth stood, and walked over to the rogue and placed his hands on Ravenstar’s shoulders. “We can spend your first night back from a mission with a nice dinner now.”

Ravenstar smirked, looking towards Baelyth. He was about to say something in reply, but there was a knock on the door. “Just a moment,” Baelyth called out. He quickly stood back and went to open the door. On the other side was a worgen medic.

“Oi, hate to disturb, but I need to get some more regenerative serum,” the medic explained. “I used up the last bit in me office.”

“Oh, of course,” the high elf replied. He collected a small box from one of the shelves against the wall. “I can only give this much for now, but we should be getting more reagents in the next few days.”

“Thanks,” the worgen said. “You wouldn’t believe it, getting a puncture wound on garrison grounds. I get people can have accidents, but did he fall sideways into a tree? Can’t imagine what he did to get it.” The worgen kept complaining as he walked back to his office. His trailing voice could still be heard from the apothecary lab.

Baelyth looked at Ravenstar who looked at him and simply shrugged. Baelyth shook his head and shrugged in like. “Let’s finish up and head to the pub, I’m getting famished over here.”

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

It was another successful end to a mission, though the journey home was not always as smooth and quiet as a soldier wishes it to be, and so close to their garrison. In the wake of a dying battle, a handful of demons and Sargerei draenei were fleeing from a recently cleared camp. They had thought they could salvage some supplies from it, but a returning raiding party from the Shaded Hemlock happened upon the snooping demons.

A wrathguard tried to cover some escaping Sargerei, but the demon was promptly frozen in place. He tried to move his feet, but to no avail. When they looked up, the last thing they saw was a darkly armoured figure with cold and glowing ice blue eyes, a death knight, charging towards him, just before he was brutally cut down by dual axes. Behind the armoured figure, an orc mage let loose a barrage of arcane missiles. The spell streamed past the death knight and found its targets in the demonically aligned draenei.

“Ha, good aim,” the death knight remarked in a hollow voice. The female human inspected the corpse of the demon for any valuable belongings. “This one doesn’t have anything.”

“Probably just a minion,” the mage remarked. “I’m surprised they had the gall to come back.”

“They were looking for something here,” another voice added in. Sundar dragged two unconscious members of the Sargerei towards the death knight and the mage. His fist weapons sat neatly over his forearms, still wet with demon blood. Upon his shoulder sat Falathir, grooming her wintery plumage.

“Hey, boss,” the orc mage said. “Good to have you here.”

“You didn’t have to come and help, but thanks anyway. How was the hunt?” the death knight asked.

Sundar unceremoniously dropped the two draenei on the ground, both falling with a harsh thud. “We have some riverwallow for the pub now.” Sundar dusted off his armour in a casual manner and smirked. “Besides, I always like to dish out some well-deserved beatings to the enemy. I sent a message to get some sentries back here.”

The druid looked to the odd duo, who signalled they would take the captives back to the garrison. Sundar went to find the voice that called out for him. Falathir started to puff out her feathers, and flapping her wings. She was growing agitated and Sundar could not blame her, he could feel something was off in the area as well. He came upon a dwarf shaman that knelt by a rocky outcropping.

“What have you got, Rory?” the night elf inquired.

“There’s a ‘ole in ‘ere,” the dwarf explained. “Well, not so much a ‘ole, but more like a cave and tunnel system, and it ain’t empty. Figure this is the entrance, what di’ye reckon?”

Sundar knelt down and tried to communicate with the plants that grew in the area. His brow furrowed when he could not glean any new information on the suspect area. None of the roots reached down far enough.

“We’ll need to investigate.” Sundar looked to the dwarf. “Feel like partnering up and getting a survey up?”

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

With their shift over, Ravenstar and Baelyth changed out of work gear and walked into the garrison pub. It was always busy, serving as the sole eatery in the fort. They offered a wide number of dishes, often working with what they can and serving up special requests for the troops. While there was a lot of seating, including on the outside, the inside of the tavern was always bustling.

The high elf looked around and brushed an auburn lock from his face. “It looks like the bar is the only vacant spot right now.”

“Whatever works,” Ravenstar said with a smile to his partner. The two walked to the bar side, though they stopped a short of sitting down.

Baelyth hung onto Ravenstar’s arm and gestured to the bar. “Hey, it’s Jaou. I thought he was going into town tonight.”

Ravenstar’s brow was raised in surprise. Jaou sat at the bar, dressed in a simple shirt, breeched and high boots. He had a glass of mead, though he was sitting alone at the bar. “I thought they were. I wonder if something happened.” The two elves nodded at each other and approached the ranger.

“Hey, Jaou,” Baelyth called out.

The ranger looked up from his drink and waved to the couple approaching him. “Raven, Baelyth, out for dinner?”

“We were going to ask you the same thing,” Ravenstar said as they took a seat by Jaou.

“Oh, ah, well,” Jaou started as he rubbed the back of his head. “She’s not feeling well right now, so I’ll be rescheduling. I’m just ordering some food to bring back to the cabin.”

“Oh no, did she catch a bug?” Baelyth prodded further. Ravenstar, while not surprised looked on with wider eyes as the high elf got even more curious.

“She said she agitated a ragveil bloom and breathed in some spores,” Jaou recalled. “She’s pretty ill, but it’s not too... serious...?” Jaou’s voice trailed off as he noted the sceptical and surprised expressions that Baelyth and Ravenstar wore. “I-is something wrong?”

Ravenstar shook his head. “I wouldn’t say there’s something wrong in particular, but the gardeners hadn’t seen Niashado since yesterday, saying she was fine earlier. And we know ragveil doesn’t natively bloom in Shadowmoon.”

Jaou blinked a few times, before speaking again. “Wait, what? But... why would she lie about something like that?” He thought about the new revelation, and then to his exchange with the shamaness earlier. “This is really weird. It doesn’t really make sense, but I feel like she’s acting a bit... I don’t know, not like herself?”

“Really? I thought she was just busy, or something,” Baelyth commented with a shrug. He noted how puzzled and deep in thought the kaldorei ranger was in, and he quickly proposed an idea. “Revar and I aren’t in a hurry, want to talk about it?”

Izdazi stared at the ceiling and listened as Jaou worked in the other room. Niashado’s horns were again being an inconvenience to allowing her to sleep on her side. But it was her thoughts on this ‘body-switching’ that gave her the most trouble sleeping. She wasn’t sure how they were going to fix this.

“The best laid plans,” she murmured as exhaustion was finally beginning to catch up to her. When she had found the cave, the Sentinel had hoped that Niashado would provide some valuable insight as to its purpose. But the shamaness had been forthcoming when she warned about the limited expertise in the kind of magic that resulted in this… mess.

They needed to return to the cave as soon as possible. Perhaps with more time they could figure out how this happened and discern a plan for returning them to respective bodies.

Her eyes had finally closed and she’d entered the twilight of sleep when a sharp pain caused her to jump upright. Something had clamped on tightly to one of her tendrils and the pain was excruciating.

Crying out Izdazi snapped her head around and felt as something heavy released its hold on the tendril. A pile of small blue rocks tumbled onto the blanket over her lap and before her eyes, formed itself into a small elemental.

“Get off my bed,” she snapped, pushing the elemental off. It fell to the floor in pieces and almost immediately reformed itself. With a determined shrug, it surged back on to her bed and much to Izdazi’s shock, threw a rock at her. “What the hell?”

She kicked it off with her hoof and it returned again, this time trampling over her chest and again reaching for her tendrils with its tiny clamp-like fingers. It pinched her arms as she grabbed hold of it. Getting unsteadily to her hooves, and still holding the thrashing elemental, she walked over to the window Jaou had opened and tossed it outside.

“What was that about?” she muttered while rubbing the throbbing tendril. Falling into another fit of coughing, Izdazi didn’t hear the patter of its rolling feet until the diminutive earth elemental returned to the room, jumped on her chest and forced her back onto the bed, where it again tried to pinch her arms and tendrils.

~~~~

Niashado, dressed in Izdazi’s off-duty clothing, which consisted of leather pants, a sleeveless dark shirt and a long cloak, found her way to the tavern. The sound of socializing, laughter and the smell of good food had brought her from the huntress’s secluded camp.

Usually, when things were more normal, she’d gone to the tavern with Jaou and other friends. But Niashado had no idea who Izdazi normally socialized with. Did she eat alone? Did she even have friends in this garrison? The huntress’s tumultuous past didn’t make it easy for her to find friends.

So, she was surprised when she entered the tavern, to be accosted by several people she recognized as off-duty Sentinels and Rangers.

“It’s about time!” a burley Sentinel announced as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and guided her to a table. Unsure of what was happening, although feeling reasonably certain that these people wouldn’t harm her inside a crowded tavern, she allowed him to guide her to a table.

It turned out that her concerns were unwarranted. She was pushed into a seat. Across from her was a dwarf from the Explorer’s League she’d seen around the garrison. Surrounding her were Sentinels and Rangers. The dwarf had his own supporters.

“Rematch time, Shadowcreek,” the dwarf growled. “Last time was a mistake. I won’t lose a second time.” Niashado’s eyes widen as a dozen shot glasses were arrayed between them and a large bottle was placed in the center of the table.

Niashado was not encouraged by the simplistic picture of a goblin with a distressed countenance and smoke pouring from his ears affixed to the bottle.

“I-I do not suppose we can do this another night?” she quietly asked. The table fell silent. All around her she saw looks of disappointment from the elves. The dwarf looked on smugly.

“I knew it. I knew you couldn’t repeat it. I thought elves kept their word? You promised a rematch tonight. But, lass, if you want to forfeit, I’m good with that,” the dwarf replied triumphantly.

Around her, the other elves shook their heads and grumbled.

“Izdazi. You can’t make us look bad. You need to do this,” one of the Sentinels whispered. “You’re on a winning streak.”

Niashado sighed. She looked around hoping to find someone who’d support her choice to back down, but to no avail. In the distance she caught sight of Ravenstar and Baeylth speaking to someone, but other patrons in the crowded tavern blocked her view.

“Are you going to forfeit?” someone asked. Between the mocking grimace on her opponent to the expectant glances of the elves she was at an impasse.

What would Izdazi do?

“I will not forfeit,” she announced, not believing the words that she’d just spoken. “I-I will do this.”

A collective shout of celebration burst from the crowd and she was handed the bottle. Carefully, she filled her shot glass and gave it to the dwarf. With even more trepidation, she watched as a tiny drop fell from the neck of the bottle and onto the wooden table. A thin strand of smoke streamed briefly from the wet spot.

The dwarf raised his glass and she did the same. Together they downed the small contents.

To Niashado, it felt like she’d just taking a sip of red hot magma. The effects were agonizing. She wanted to spit it out, but fought the urge.

Beyond the ringing of her ears and the fire in her throat she heard the dwarf laughing. “To much for the wee elf?”

What would Izdazi do?

Niashado could scarcely believe that she had grabbed the bottle and poured herself another shot glass. Through tearing eyes, she watched the dwarf do the same. And together, they took another gulp.

It only got worse.

~~~~

“What is your problem?” Izdazi snarled as she fought with the elemental on the floor. It continued clamping its hands on her hands and tendrils. It pulled on its hair. It pelted her with tiny stones. It kicked her hoof and stepped on her tail. And for the most part, Izdazi had managed to do little more than push it away.

The thing wasn’t even knee high and much to her surprise, she found herself trying to retreat from it.

I have tamed a proto-drake and I’m running from this tiny… thing!

She backed into the nightstand just as the elemental surged up her leg and pelted her with another stone. It jumped onto the bed and circled behind her.

To Izdazi’s surprise, the little earth elemental snatched up Niashado’s totems and raced out of the room.

“Hey!” Izdazi shouted and she tried to give chase only to slip on the wooden floor and fall face first. Lifting her head, she brushed the bangs from her eyes and watched as the elemental race through a small dog door and out of the house. With a sigh, Izdazi dropped her head on the floor.

“Thank Elune no one saw that,” she muttered before getting to her hooves, looking at the mess in the room, and then collapsed on the bed just as another wave of coughs consumed her.

~~~~

The room was spinning. The chanting from the elves and the noises throughout the tavern were all melding together. She wasn’t sure she would ever smell again and it was indeed possible she’d just murdered all her taste buds.

Looking at her opponent, she noted how the dwarf’s forehead glinted fiercely in the firelight of the tavern. Niashado felt her own skin (well, Izdazi’s) growing warm.

The dwarf was no longer goading her. In fact, he appeared to be struggling as much as she was. Issuing a roar of a belch, he poured himself his sixth shot glass and then waited patiently as she struggled to fill hers. It took several tries and spills but she finally managed to fill it sufficiently.

Together, they slowly raised their glass. She focused on it and gulped it down. Again, she felt as the fire drifted down her throat. It hurt a lot and she felt her body trying to reject it. All her medical training told her that this was a body’s natural attempt at purging a poison. But still she fought it.

Because this is what Izdazi would do. She is so messed up.

She opened her tear filled eyes and saw that the dwarf was still staring at his full shot glass. Then, to her surprise, he fell sideways off his chair.

The room exploded in loud applause. Praises were enthusiastically given. People grasped her shoulder. If it weren’t that Niashado felt like she was dying, she would have been overwhelmed by the praise.

No wonder she does things like this, the shamaness realized as the room continued to swirl.

The food he ordered was sitting on the bar counter in front of him. Ravenstar and Baelyth sat with their drinks and shared appetizer of warm flatbread and hummus as they listened to Jaou’s recount of his recent interaction with Niashado. The ranger took another swig of mead before continuing. “She’s started using kaldorei terms fluidly, and she was using contractions!” Jaou exclaimed. “Am I maybe going a bit crazy?”

“And I thought I paid attention to character nuances,” Ravenstar commented.

“When it’s the one you love, you start unconsciously knowing all of their habits, you should know this,” Baelyth stated, while playfully nudging the older kaldorei with his elbow.

“Yeah, yeah,” Ravenstar replied, placing a hand on Baelyth’s shoulder, giving him a slight shake. “Well, let’s see about this: she wasn’t at the herb field at any point today, and she was entirely normal yesterday with no signs of illness, and now she is acting and speaking out of character, not to mention lying about going to the garden. I don’t really blame you for thinking something more is going on.”

“Maybe give it a day?” Baelyth suggested. He took a piece of the flatbread and dipped it into the hummus, before consuming it. “I know something like a few ragveil spores won’t cause behavioural changes, but some surveillance and waiting could reveal something new.”

“Surveillance is a bit much, isn’t it?” Jaou said. He took another drink to find Baelyth shrugging in response.

“Maybe surveillance is the wrong term,” the high elf corrected himself. “Keeping an eye on her would be the better choice of words here.”

“I know you two don’t pry into each other’s business, but it really isn’t like her to speak plainly or falsely of her activities to you,” Ravenstar added.

A loud cheer came from behind the three elves in the dining hall, and grabbed their attention. A crowd of Sentinels and personnel from the Explorer’s League were gathered around a table. It was an oft occurring event, no doubt another drinking competition between the two groups. Last time it happened, there was an upset where one of the dwarves lost to Izdazi. There had been talk of a rematch, and such discussions were had today as well. When the three males glanced over, they spotted Izdazi, who looked less than confident this time around.

“Speaking of abnormal behaviour,” Ravenstar plainly commented.

“Oh, I guess they’re doing a rematch tonight,” Baelyth observed with some amusement. “I wonder what kind of swill they’ve got lined up this time.”

Jaou looked over and saw the bottle of liquor that they would be consuming tonight. The disgusted expression he wore on his face spoke of what he thought of their choice beverage. “I’ve had the misfortune of drinking that lantern fuel when I went to Booty Bay. I can tell you right now, they’re going to feel it well into tomorrow.”

“I can’t say that Izdazi should be drinking at all, not after her appalling performance with sparring today,” grumbled Ravenstar. The older elf turned back to his food and drink.

“Wait a moment, what happened?” Jaou asked with curiosity.

“Pretty much what I just said,” the old rogue stated, as he took a bite from the flatbread. “Close quarter combat isn’t her favourite, nor is she particularly talented at it, but she could at least hold her own. Today, it was like she was a beginner again. Mateus thinks she’s up to something, and he mentioned that she was acting more polite and speaking more courteously.”

Baelyth took a long drink from his tankard, finishing the rest of his ale. He signalled the bartender for a refill and turned to the two night elves. “You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d be tempted to say that Izdazi and Niashado and switched personalities.”

“Oh, don’t joke about that,” Jaou shuddered. “Besides, I wouldn’t say Nia was acting brusquer; casual and distant would be a more accurate description.” The ranger reached into his back pocket and produced a number of gold coins, and flagged down a server. “I’ll get your orders,” he said to Ravenstar and Baelyth as he handed the server the gold. “I should be heading back.”

“Aw, and miss out on the fun over there?” Baelyth joked, referring to the drinking competition. “I suppose it would be best to tend to the ill and ailing. Thanks for the food!”

“Yeah. Thanks,” Ravenstar said. “Take it easy.”

“I will,” Jaou replied. “Enjoy your time off!”

Taking the food, Jaou left the pub, just in time for a Sentinel messenger to rush past him and into the dining area. There’s always something going on. As usual, it did not take long for the ranger to get back to the cabin. Jaou opened the door, and as expected, it was quiet within.

Jaou took off his boots and silently walked to their shared bedroom. Inside, Niashado was resting peacefully. It would be imprudent for him to wake her, though it would be best for her to get some food in. He walked over to the nightstand and placed the bag of food upon it. He then gently shook the draenei’s shoulder, and spoke softly.

“Food is on the nightstand, ready for you to eat when you feel up to it,” he stated. Jaou also took the empty cup beside the meal. “I’ll get you some water. Feel better.”

As he walked to the kitchen, Jaou looked over to his studio. Seems like a good night to do some art, and maybe touch up the gift.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

“So what di’ye reckon this cave is fer?” Rory asked Sundar, who was entertaining Falathir with small models made of grass.

The night elf crossed his arms and wondered the purpose of the cave himself. “Something this hidden away, there could be something important inside,” Sundar reasoned. “Well, whatever it is, it reeks of fel.”

“Penxy. She should be here soon,” Sundar replied as he absently weaved some plants into various shapes and forms.

“Penxy Scrollblade?” Rory clarified. The dwarf let out a snort. “At least this could be fun.”

Sundar finished a grass woven model of a talbuk, which Falathir lightly bit on, and looked to the cave. “Just don’t let the fun get you carried away. We wouldn’t want to accidentally summon a fel horror here.”

“Ah, you elves worry too much!” a voice said in jest as someone approached the two. It was a female goblin with short, ruffled brown hair. Even for her race, she was slight in build, but everyone in the garrison knew that her appearance was deceiving. Her mannerisms already spoke of her confidence as she strutted towards the site. “Man, leave it to work to interrupt a good seat in a drinking competition.”

“What?! The rematch was tonight?!” Rory exclaimed. “What’s the status?”

“When I left, it was a stalemate,” Penxy said. She then shrugged. “I heard Izdazi initially backed down before accepting the rematch, but it could have been a ploy.” The she-goblin looked around their surroundings, taking note of the air around them. “Feels like a demon playground over here, if they have anything like that. So, what requires the work of the great Penxy here?”

Sundar gestured to the rocky formation, noting the opening in the rocks. “This mystery cavern here. It seems to be the source of the fel energy, now that the camp got cleared out.”

The morning light seemed to burn though her eyes and for a moment she wondered if the sun had grown brighter. Then, the shamaness remembered. She was in Izdazi’s body, and the elf was likewise in hers. The elf’s eyes, her eyes now, were made for nocturnal ventures. Not for the bright Shadowmoon sky.

Nevertheless, it didn’t take long for eyes to readjust. Around her were other Sentinels, similar armored and readying for a march. Mateus was shouting something to the warriors and through the cloud of confusion that lingered around her mind, she heard him shout something about the Burning Legion and demons. Around her the warriors shouted in unison and then they began to march toward the gates of the garrison.

“Stop lollygagging, Shadowcreek!” the Sentinel behind her shouted as she jabbed her in the back. Niashado began marching toward the gate.

This… this is not right! I am not a warrior. I cannot go into battle like this, the shamaness quickly realized. But like an avalanche, she was pushed forward toward the fires… just beyond the gates.

Her breathing intensified with each hoofstep… footstep. Then she saw herself.

Standing by the path with other civilians. Jaou Stormchaser’s hand on her shoulder and a somber expression in their countenances. The eyes of a public, watching their soldiers go to die.

I do not belong here!

“Niashado, if you’d been faster solving this body-swapping totem thing, maybe we could have figured out how to get back to our bodies,” she heard herself say. Turning to her right, she saw that her draenei-self was walking alongside her. Now, all I can offer you is that I’ll do my best to watch over Jaou. I think, maybe in time, I may even begin to love him. It’s the least I can do.”

“Izdazi, you know this is not right,” Niashado hissed.

“I know, but there’s nothing I can do. War doesn’t wait for these things. I’m sorry I dragged you into this. But don’t worry. Jaou won’t know a thing,” the huntress replied as she stepped away from the marching formation.

Niashado tried to go after her, but she was held by the other Sentinels and forced toward the burning fields beyond the gate.

“Show some backbone, Shadowcreek!” one of the demanded as she was pushed into the sulpher reeking battlefield. A dreadlord turned his demonic head toward her and lifted a massive battle hammer.

Niashado jolted awake and sat up from the table where she’d been laying her head. Instantly, she regretted it. A wave of nausea quickly overwhelmed her vision, forcing her to sit down. The room was spinning. Even with her eyes closed the room was spinning.

“Helluva night, Shadowcreek,” she heard the tauren, Rukarn, call out.

“Izdazi is here?” Niashado asked, laying her head back on the table. The tauren’s heavy hoofsteps grew louder as approached her table.

“That goblin rocket fuel must have finally made you go daft, elf,” the tauren grumbled as he dropped a plate on the table before her. “Enjoy.”

Niashado raised her head and looked down on her light purple hands.

“It was not a dream,” she muttered, looking past her hands at the plate of greasy honey covered bacon strips and eggs. She tried not to dislike food, but found it very unappetizing.

“Nope. You really drank that stuff last night,” the Rukarn replied, returning with a tall mug of steaming coffee. “Vile stuff. I’m not sure why Mr. Stormchaser had it included in the first shipment.”

“I-I do not suppose I can just get some fruit and moonberry juice, Rukarn?” she asked, looking at the meal and feeling her stomach threaten to bubble over.

“You’ll eat your usual and you’ll enjoy it,” the tauren grumbled as he wiped down the bar top. “And you better hurry. Formation is in twenty minutes.”

The shamaness moved the greasy, sticky food with her fork and felt her appetite further diminish. “You are in a mood today. It is unlike you to be this grumpy.”

“I lost fifteen gold to Penxy when I bet against you. She’s not going to let me forget.”

“I will give you fifteen gold if you can cure me of this hangover.” Niashado mumbled as she pushed the plate away. The coffee was much too bitter for her taste. The tauren chuckled.

“Time, Izzy. That’s the only thing that will cure you of that hangover,” he replied with another chortle. “Figure you’d know that by now.”

Niashado gave the mug of coffee another glance.

~~~~

Izdazi woke up to the gentle rays of the sunlight streaming through the window. The bed was soft and the sheets cozy. And much to her relief, it was all to herself. She’d been afraid Jaou would join her, but for some reason he’d kept his distance.

He probably doesn’t want to get sick like I did. How chivalrous of him, she thought sarcastically as she swung her legs out of the bed. Her eyes widened briefly at the sight of the hooves she now sported, but even that shock soon passed.

Getting up, she stretched and found something to wear. Niashado tended to be quite consistent with what she wore from day to day, making the selection easy for Izdazi. Slipping on something, she quietly opened the bedroom door. Jaou wasn’t there.

She made her way to the kitchen and started rummaging for coffee. However, all she could find was various tea leaves in glass bottles. With a sigh, she grabbed the darkest tea leaves she could find, hoping it would work like coffee, and filled a small kettle with water. It took some searching, but she finally located the flint and tinder to start the fire. Setting the flint on the counter, she leaned against the wall while waiting for the water to boil.

How are we going to sneak out of the garrison to fix this? How am I going to even find Niashado?

~~~

Shouts of surprise rang out around the garrison at the rapid patter of stone feet that zig-zagged through the crowded streets of the garrison. Sabers yowled in surprised as talbuks reared back in shock. Still, the diminutive earth elemental ran on, dragging a bracelet of crystalline totems behind him.

Following any trace of natural magic he could sense, his first stop was in the headquarters building. With a pair of Sentinels chasing behind him, he shot into the base commander’s office. Despite the latent magic in the room, there was no sign of her. Dodging the Sentinels he ran up onto the desk, trampling forms and turning over ink bottles, before jumping down and running back into the hallway.

He shot through the Warden’s office, barely missing the pair of Sentinels as he jumped up on her desk and out of the window.

The tiny elemental started a small pack of sabre cubs who were playing just outside of the Warden’s office. Soon they gave chase as Pebble scampered into other parts of garrison.

Sundar stretched his arms as he rode back to the site of the cavern on the back of Naphta. The canvassing of the cavern was halted for sleep and rest, but now Rory and Penxy had gone ahead of him early in the morning. The druid had informed the pair that he would be by later, but the tasks he had took longer than usual. Of note were some out of place herb orders, and out of practice Sentinels, specifically Izdazi. While the former was strange, the latter was more concerning to Sundar, considering how his recruitment of Izdazi came to be and how much ire it elicited from her commanding officer.

Things were going so smoothly for a while, the druid thought to himself. I guess it’s only normal for kinks to happen.

As he rode, Sundar pulled out a small notebook to look over the schedule for the next few days. Field action was steady, but slowly the offensive missions became defensive postings. The elf marvelled at the work they accomplished in such a short time, but now as the operations went on, he had to start thinking about the looming eventuality of winding it down. Well, that’s still a while off. Gotta continue on with the current events! After he was done reviewing the schedule, Sundar put away the notebook and bade Naphta to take him to the campsite faster; not only did he have to check in on progress, he had decided to give those on the job there a meal delivery.

The Sentinels and guards on watch saluted his arrival, to which he nodded back. Penxy had instructed the guards to only allow herself and Rory inside, unless they called for aid. While that restricted immediate access, the warlock had set up a seeing eye inside that channelled what it saw and heard to a viewing portal that was set close to the cave entrance. Sundar dismounted Naphta, who elected to stretch and lie down, as he took out the bags of food for the on-site crew. He walked up to the portal and called out, “Penxy, Rory, I got food for everyone here; it’ll be ready for when you guys want to take a break. Any updates?”

Penxy’s angular visage came into view, with Rory in the background doing more surveying work. “Hey boss!” the goblin called back. “We’re making pretty good progress on checking off any traps and danger spots, and Rory’s got the walls reinforced.” To that, the dwarven shaman gave a thumbs-up at the druid.

Sundar nodded and scanned what he could of the cavern. “Still restricted to go in?”

“There’re some traps here, and this totem-thing in the middle is still something unstable from ground damage,” Penxy explained. “Gotta cast a few wards on it to bring it back to a non-explodey condition, and then it’s deciphering time!”

“Say what?” Penxy exclaimed as she brought over the viewing eye. “A demonic eredar? Oh this just gets juicier! I love power struggles!”

“Well, it ain’t much o’ a struggle when you’re clapped in irons,” the dwarf replied.

On the other side of the portal, Sundar viewed with great curiosity. “This does put an interesting spin on the cave down there. How long for the analysis of the equipment and runes you found in there?”

Penxy started to think to herself and pace around the cave, with both hands clasped behind her back. “Hmm, let’s see, barring any emergencies, interruptions, or accidental death from various hazards, I would say... three hours tops?”

“Do the best you can!” Sundar replied. The druid was about to say something else, but then he was interrupted by the sudden arrival of a draenei messenger riding upon a talbuk.

“I am sorry,” the messenger said as he reigned in the talbuk. “I saw your present here and thought I could stop by.”

Sundar nodded to himself before addressing the messenger. “A bit of a risky proposition, but it matters not. What seems to be the trouble?”

“A development at the village, and we would like for your assistance,” the draenei stated.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Jaou sat at one of his art tables, with his head in his arms and sound asleep. Next to him was a sketchbook, and another book that looked to be a leather-bound tome. The thicker book was mostly blank, save for some scribbling that Jaou had put in. The ranger was resting well, but as noise came from the kitchen, one of his exposes ears started to twitch. The noise persisted, and a chill suddenly ran up through the whole of his back. The ranger sat straight in his chair, looking a bit dishevelled. He looked around his surroundings and tried to ascertain the time. I must’ve fell asleep in here.

He stretched his arms and back, and then he ran his right hand through his hair to put some semblance of order back into his head. Maybe all of the strange behaviour Nia was showing was a dream. Maybe it’ll be normal today. Jaou unlocked the studio door and stepped out into the kitchen, and saw that Niashado was already drinking some tea she had prepared. "Oh, good morning, I fell asleep doing some work."

"Mmmmm. Good morning," the draenei replied while gulping down the tea. "I'm sorry you slept in there."

Nope, she’s still speaking strangely today.

He shook his head, both to wake up more and to set aside that concern. "I lost track of time," Jaou replied. The elf looked around and saw the flint and tinder had been taken out. It was a rather strange finding, considering she normally started fires with her elemental abilities. "I've never seen you use those before."

Niashado looked down at the fire starting items. "Really? I didn't even think about it." Before Jaou could reply, the town clock tower rang seven bells, it was still morning. "I need to go to the garden today. I'll probably be out most of the day."

“Alright," Jaou replied. He started to pour himself a cup of tea that was made. "I have to go out and do some surveying and sketching."

"Where will you be working today?"

Jaou took a sip of tea, and he pulled away from the cup and looked at the brew with a raised brow. He turned to Niashado as he leaned on the counter. "The marshland. Progress has been slow, since it's not exactly a walk in a park there."

"The marshlands? I remember that place, I don't envy you," she replied while finishing the tea.

"It's no big deal." Jaou looked at the tea again, and smelled its aroma. It was deep and heavy, a tea normally used for relaxing. "A bit heavy for the start of the day, isn't it?"

"Oh. Well, I decided to try something a little stronger. After being sick, I need to get back to work," she replied. Niashado grabbed her cloak and headed for the door. "Like I said, I might be late."

Jaou nodded, but took note of how lightly she was prepared for the day. Her staff and backpack were still sitting in the common area, and it was something she never left behind. "You're forgetting your stuff!"

"What? Oh. Thanks!" she said while grabbing the staff and bag. A moment later she was gone out the door, quickly and without another word.

The ranger blinked a few times, looking at the door, and then back at his tea. She’s still not herself... A moment later, there was a scratching at the door, followed by light tapping. Jaou placed the cup of tea down and opened the door. At his feet was Falathir, who looked up and cooed at the elf, just before she fluttered upward and perched on his shoulder. As usual, the owl affectionately preened his hair. Jaou chuckled slightly, and patted the avian.

“Well, I’m glad you’re still normal,” Jaou jested. Falathir leaned into his head as the elf closed the cabin door.

Jaou proceeded to the restroom to freshen up. With Faalthir still on his shoulder, Jaou brushed his hair and cleaned his teeth. Just as he was washing his face though, a knock was heard on the door. The ranger quickly dried his face quickly and went to answer the door. On the other side was a Sentinel dispatch officer.

“Ranger Stormchaser,” the Sentinel said with a salute. “We’re aware it’s your day off, but all of our capable trackers have been assigned and dispatched. We have a situation at the village, concerning a thief or smuggler of some sort, and we’ve been asked to help track the good down, and if possible, detain the perpetrator.”

Jaou nodded. “I’ll be ready shortly.”

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Baelyth and Ravenstar were still in bed when morning, or whatever is was that constituted dawn, broke over the land. The night elf stirred, looked over at his companion, who was still sound asleep. Ravenstar sat up and rolled his shoulders, before lightly shaking Baelyth.

“Did you want to get some breakfast?” Ravenstar asked the still slumbering high elf.

Baelyth stirred, but he only curled the sheets into a tighter ball around himself. “Can we eat in today?” he mumbled. “The bed is so warm and comfy.”

The older elf snickered and got out of bed. “I’ll pick up some food from the pub. Did you want the usual?” Baeltyh nodded an rolled around the bed. “I’ll be back then.”

Ravenstar quickly got ready for the day, getting dressed and refreshing himself. It did not take long for the rogue to leave their quarters and proceed to the pub. Various soldiers and military personnel criss-crossed the walkways, most going on missions, and some going to morning practice.

While the establishment was not as boisterous of an environment as it was in the evening, there were still a fair amount of patrons present for their morning meal. Ravenstar went up to the barside, and was greeted by its taruen host, Rukarn.

“Good morning to you, Ravenstar, “ Rukarn said in a chipper tone. “What are you having today?”

“Two grilled salmon over a garlic muffin with poached eggs,” Ravenstar replied. “Also a side of wilted greens.”

“Fifteen minutes or so for the food,” Rukarn said.

Ravenstar nodded and took a seat at the bar to wait. A glass of water was given to the older elf as his food was being prepared, while he looked on from his seat. Tea and coffee was the dominant scent in the eatery at present. Most of those that were on duty opted for a filling meal that was neither too oiled nor too heavy, while those on break would treat themselves to the more lavish breakfasts that were available.

He casually scanned the room, as was his habit, when he noticed one table. Izdazi was sitting by herself, but it appeared to be the very same one that she was drinking at yesterday. The huntress looked less than hungry, and possibly nauseated. If he recalled, she should have been at morning practice by now. Doubly she normally showed great enthusiasm when the practice included archery. He got up from the bar side and approached the she-elf.

Izdazi started to look uncomfortable, glancing around, and very strangely tugged on one of her dreads for a moment. "I cannot train today. I am not feeling well."

I never knew you as one to back out of keeping your archery record preened and pristine," the older elf observed. He started eying her habits. "Nor do I know you as the nervous type."

The huntress looked him in the eyes briefly and then looked back at the floor. "I-I would like to request some time off."

"You're certainly acting strangely, but you know I'm not the one to talk to for scheduling."

With a sigh, she seemed rather resigned. “Then, I-I suppose I should speak to the Warden’s office.” She started to get up and stumbled past Ravenstar.

With you being off, I would be careful around Snowraven," Ravenstar warned.

“I do not understand. Why?" She asked, as she straightened herself.

“Those with performance that suddenly plummets draws a lot of suspicion from her." Ravenstar looked to see that his meal was ready to be picked up, as Rukarn waved to him. The old elf waved back. "But if you want to deal with that, then you go have fun."

Izdazi sighed and slumped back on to a chair chair. She closed her eyes for a moment and then shook her head. "I cannot keep doing this."

“Well, no you can't," Ravenstar commented. "Do any more poorly, and your lovely commanding officer, Ravenheart isn't going to let any of us hear the end of it." The rogue began to walk off.

"Ravenstar!" Izdazi beckoned. "That is not what I meant. I..." She seemed to struggle for the right words.

The older elf looked back. "Getting soft there?"

"I am not Izdazi," she replied in barely a whisper.

Ravenstar cocked an eyebrow at the elf. He became rather unsure of how to take such an outlandish statement "A jest to your recent behaviour?”

She looked at the table and despite her efforts, guilt could be seen in her eyes. "No.I am Niashado."

Ravenstar laughed. He did not want to say it, but he started to wonder if the draught they chose for the drinking competition was laced with something. "What a game you weave, but you do put on a convincing show. Maybe some time off is what you need. Anyway, I have a hungry spouse to feed."

Nia looked slightly pained at the way he reacted, but then, as if coming to another decision she nodded. "Maybe I do. Thank you, Ravenstar."

"By the way,” the rogue added before he left. “Before I forget, and since you are normally into prying into other's business, you haven't seen Niashado, the draenei, have you?"

Niashado shakes her head. "I am not sure how to answer that."

"She's been acting strange; much like you she's been out of character."

"Perhaps because she shares the same situation I am going through."

With such an unexpected answer, Ravenstar’s mind started going through the possibilities and he seemed to look rather regretful for asking. "... I dare not ask...” He cleared his throat and closed the subject. “Well, I bid you a good day, and stay out of trouble."

As he left, Izdazi stood up. "I am Niashado. Izdazi is in my body. It is a very long story."

Ravenstar turned around with a very perplexed expression. And suddenly, the other patrons turned to her upon the confession. "Is this some kind of joke? It would be surprising if Nia actually went in on it."

Niashado, Izdazi, or whoever she claimed to be, shifted uncomfortably at the sudden attention she was receiving. "We should speak in private."

“Well then, I suppose I should get this delivered to Baelyth instead. And I was looking forward to some few days off,” Ravenstar grumbled.

She looked out over her camp and nodded in satisfaction at the efficiency of her workers. Crates were being unloaded from warpgates by herds of diminutive gan’arg workers, under the watchful gaze of their mo’arg project engineers, and stacked neatly. Several teams of scouts were returning and appeared relatively unschathed.

Hammers pounded and plasmatic weld flashed about as technicians assembled various fel devices. Squadrons of troops moved around in formation. Overall things were moving along relatively smoothly.

Her lips turned downward slightly as her thoughts drifted to the less than stellar performance going on beyond her camp’s borders. Three of her outposts had been destroyed because of the efforts of an unexpected... neigh, completely inconceivable, interference of otherworlders.

How they even came to this world, much less become aware of the Burning Legion’s plans for it, were an uncalculated variable. Already they were costing her much in assets and although the world these meddlesome cretins came from was known to the Legion (after all, only a few worlds had ever successfully repelled them), their reasons for being wasn’t.

They knew there were two factions and that relations between them were… tenuous, but that wasn’t always the case. The off-worlder settlement responsible for most of her woes was a curious blend of races and factions. And from what she’d heard from other fel camps, her particular bastion of hassle was one of more successful ones.

Something had to be done soon, but their biggest hindrance was the lack of intelligence. Scrying magically had been rebuffed repeatedly by wards and other enchantments. The fortress appeared solidly defended and risking a head on raid blindly was just plain stupid.

Still, it was in defiance of her already troubled ascension to power of this camp. There were other eredar in the Burning Legion who had more seniority and power who should be in charge. Many resented her, including her former first lieutenant.

“I see regret in your eyes,” her mo’arg second lieutenant offered as he climbed up to the platform where she overlooked her personal dominion. The wood of the platform creaked in protest of his bulk.

“Regret is for lesser leaders. I did what had to be done. He was a foolish upstart to think he could usurp leadership from me,” she hissed back.

“Some of my best projects were destroyed when we lost that last outpost,” the mo’arg growled.

“And how many times have I told you to keep level five projects or higher within the perimeter of this camp,” she replied angrily. It wasn’t a question. “If you weren’t so useful I’d have you replaced.”

“Good. We need to move this along. What is the status of Project R?” She asked, still not sparing him a glance.

“The systems operated within tolerance in the last five tests. We have begun forging its armor plating,” the demonic engineer replied. There was no mistaking the pride in his voice. “I anticipate full installation of the panels within the next five cycles.”

“Do you have enough parts to build a second working construct?”

“I do,” He stated warily.

“I want you to send your current unit, as it is, against the interlopers’ fortress. Begin building the second one immediately.”

“That is wasteful, mistress! The machine is unprotected! It won’t survive a confrontation!” He bellowed.

This time she did turn to him. Her green eyes flashed and her fingers folded into fists as she regarded him coldly. In flash, the eredar gripped the mo’arg’s mechanical arm. Her hands began glowing sickly green.

“You would DARE to lecture an eredar without her permission! You?! A lesser demon,” she snarled. The metal arm began rusting and crumbling around her fingers. The mo’arg cried out and conflict raged as his body wanted to recoil from her grip while his mind knew better than to do anything to further defy his eredar overlord. “You can’t begin to understand my plans fool!”

The demonic engineer’s gan’arg technicians shuddered as they watched their squad leader cry out in agony.

With an angry snarl, she shoved him off the platform, where he tumbled hard on his back. His partially decayed arm fell uselessly to his side.

“You know what I do to traitors!” she growled down at him from the platform. “Deploy the Reaver as it is and start work on the second one.”

“Y-yes mistress!” He grumbled, clutching his ruined arm and ushering his minions to follow him to their workshops.

~~~~

She’d seen Ravenstar angry in the past. She’d never seen that anger directed at her, though. And Niashado was swiftly discovering that it was as horrible an experience as she thought it would be. She followed him without a word as they made their way to the office.

Despite this, the shamaness was much more bothered by revealing her subterfuge to Jaou. How could she have even gone through with this plan, knowing it would be misleading her love? Worse, it was Izdazi pretending to be her.

Moments later they were in the privacy of his office. She paced around the office trying to find the right words while he stood behind his desk with crossed arms.

“I-I do not know how to explain this,” the shamaness replied, gesturing to the elven her body she now sported.

“How this happened would be a good place to start.”

The shamaness pondered this for a moment and then shook her head. “I am not sure when or how Izdazi found the cave with the device that caused this… swap.”

“And you didn’t come back here for more help.”

Niashado shifted uncomfortably and fiddled with one of her… Izdazi’s, dreadlocks. “Izdazi wanted to hold off on revealing our situation until we had another opportunity to undo it. I tried to impress upon her that I was unused to manipulating whatever spell was responsible for this, but she was very insistent. We were hoping to correct this without creating an incident.”

The older elf shook his head and sighed. The next thig he said made Niashado blush in shame. “I expected more from you than to go along with this half-baked idea.”

She tried to reply, but the words were not coming to her mind easily. She should have known better then to allow Izdazi to talk her into this.

“I-I just wanted to help her. I know she has been struggling to find her way this environment. She is used to working alone and working outside of a command structure. I thought I would only be offering advice. But one thing led to another then… well…

“Neither of us anticipated these complications,” she confessed. “However, I can not go on deceiving Jaou that it was not me sharing our home.”

“He’s picked up something odd, but your story would explain the strange behaviour between the two of you. “Ravenstart looked out of the window for a moment. “Where is Izdazi?”

“She is suppose to stay in our cabin until later this morning. I induced an illness so she would be able to convince Jaou that she needed to left alone,” Niashado explained. “Jaou would have been worried.”

“Let’s go get her then, get this nonsense sorted out.”

“It was not our intention to cause this much ruckus, Ravenstar,” the shamaness repeated. She wasn’t looking forward to Izdazi realizing she couldn’t keep up the subterfuge or Jaou learning of her deceit.

“Ik now, but it could have been averted. Where is this cave anyway?” Ravenstar asked he gathered some things.

“It is at the Legion camp recently destroyed. Izdazi had been doing a followup cleanup mission there and discovered the cave.”

Ravenstar appeared thoughtful for a moment.

“Well, this is interesting. Bel and I ran into Sundar last night and he said an investigation was underway at a cave near that camp…”

“What?!” Niashado exclaimed, getting to her feet. “You need to warn them about that cave. I do not understand much about fel sorcery, but I am reasonably certain what happened to Izdazi and I was not a malfunction.”

“He has Rory and Penxy on the job,” Ravenstar assured her. “It’s all careful work.”

Niashado nodded but still appeared unconvinced. She had her misgivings about Sundar allowing a warlock to work in the camp. Most of the misgiving centered on her own prejudices about fel magic users. But their knowledge was indispensable with the Burning Legion threats here and if their skills helped them keep this Draenor from becoming like her Outlands, then she was willing to cope with it.

And despite Penxy’s profession and… well, race, she found the goblin to be an interesting person. The shamaness hoped that her own concerns didn’t show appear to evident when they spoke.

“The demons used some kind of totem as a foci for the spells. I hope Penxy can figure it out.”

“She may seem like a whole lot of bluster, but she knows her stuff,” Ravenstar reassured her. The shamaness nodded, but still appeared uncomfortable with the whole ordeal.

“Well, I suppose I should explain this to Jaou,” the shamaness sighed.

“You might have to wait. He’s leaving right now,” Ravenstar announced while looking out the window. She followed him to the window and watched as Jaou rode off toward the garrison gate on Ganymede.

“Nia? Are you here?” Izdazi called out as she clumsily stumbled into her camp. She grunted in displeasure at seeing her armor strewn around the camp. Nor was she pleased at the general disarray of her tent. It was the bloodied crossbow bolt on the ground that got her attention.

“That wasn’t where I let you,” she remarked to herself while picking it up. It was from her writst crossbow, which laid nearby. It also revealed itself to have been fired. “What did you do?”

She spent a little time putting her armor and other items in their respective places before heading back out into the main square in the hopes of finding her counterpart. The sound of her footsteps… hoofsteps, clomping on the cobblestone street was annoying.

“Niashado! Niashado!” Somebody called out. Izdazi looked around, hoping the shamaness was nearby before again realizing, she was in the draenei’s body. Turning, she saw a dwarven woman rushing up to her. “I thought we were having class today?”

“Class?” Izdazi replied.

“Yes. The meditation class? You weren’t there this morning.”

When did she start teaching meditation?

“I haven’t been feeling well since yesterday. I’m sorry, I should have sent notice,” Izdazi quickly apologized.

“Oh, I see. Well, I hope you feel better soon,” the dwarf replied. “I need to get back to work.”

Jaou had been given the details on the quarry he was tracking, rather, the trail that they left. The ranger had been given information on the stolen resources and the potential suspects: arcane crystals and mysteriously absent miners and foremen. As he was told, with the rangers of the Shaded Hemlock already assigned to other areas, and the Rangari already spread thin, Jaou was the only one available for the snap assignment, and while he was told to detain the suspects if it were possible, the direction in which the trail led would prove to make such an outcome more difficult to achieve. As Jaou pressed onward with Falathir on his shoulder, and riding upon Ganymede, he approached the northern marshlands of the valley.

The tracks he had followed, though covered, were concealed in haste on dry ground and easy to trail, now came the challenge of the swamp. Reigning back on Ganymede, they slowed their pace as the terrain transitioned from solid ground to wet and soft soil; the last thing they needed was to accidentally run into quicksand, or other such pitfalls. Jaou elected to dismount his sabre and walk alongside of him. There was a used trail on more stable ground, but the missing crystals were taken from the mines in smaller loads over a longer period of time. With such a need for secrecy, Jaou looked for signs that may have suggested the smuggler to go off-route with the crystals as he continued tracking his target.

The night elf carefully followed the muddled tracks, though as far as he could tell, there was no effort made to lead him astray. Ganymede followed along, catching any scent that would be helpful in the search and Falathir also kept vigil as she remained perched on Jaou’s shoulder. Eventually, as Jaou predicted, the tracks did go off route. Upon the trail, the tracks seemed to have ended abruptly, and on either side the foliage had been disturbed. Jaou sent Ganymede to one side the trail while he inspected the opposite side. On his end, the ranger noted the smuggler seemed to display a level of pragmatism in their footfalls, being careful to leave their prints soft and as indiscernible as possible, though these also eventually stopped. Jaou turned to Ganymede to see his progress, and the great sabre looked up from the trail and gave a huff, letting the kaldorei know that the trail continued. Falathir fluttered over to the sabre and found a hold on the saddle, as Jaou followed his companions and eventually moved to take point in their search.

The direction they were taking was bringing them closer and closer to the rocky outcrops that ran on the edges of the swamp. Jaou’s ears were swivelling slightly, catching any noises that were not native to the swamp, but there was nothing amiss as of yet. The trail started to take on a curve, contouring more with the banks. Now with his eyes shifting from the track to the walls, Jaou led the way forward until the tracks, once again, ended. Jaou and his companions looked curiously at the rock for a moment. Jaou took out his halberd and proceeded to knock it against the rock, but without much fanfare, his weapon went through it as if it did not exist, and it truly did not as its image became distorted when the halberd struck its form. Jaou pointed at Falathir and Ganymede, signalling for them to stay and keep watch. The owl and sabre calmly watched as the ranger stepped through the illusion and found a dark cave, only lit by glow spiders, more than enough light for him to see.

The cavern was not deep, only extending the length of a kodo into the rocks, but there was a transportation circle at the far side. From its design, it was vaguely draenic, but what put a furrow on his brow was seeing the standard that was hung on the back of the wall behind the circle. The Sargerei. It now appeared that their smuggler was allied with the rogue draenei group, but now he had to decide what to do with the portal. The elf inspected the runes, recalling the briefing he attended on various transportation circles. It seemed he was dealing with a one way circle, which made for an easier decision to vandalize the platform; if they needed to find out where it went, it was not an issue for them to reverse engineer the path it took. Jaou found the conduit crystal on the platform, and removed it from its setting. He placed the crystal in his pack and left the cavern.

He met back with Falathir and Ganymede and climbed atop the saddle. He would need to report this to the Ranhari and Warden Snowraven. Without taking the same path, Jaou directed Ganymede to take a roundabout path. They had to ensure that they gave no other indication that the smuggler was found out. As they rode onward, there was a sudden explosion of noise around them, as loud croaks sounded through the swamp. Not far from where they were riding was two giant frogs in a rut against each other. The ranger had not known frogs to compete violently for mates until he arrived in Shadowmoon Valley, and the locals warned of going to near the amphibians, for, especially during mating season, they were more than ill-tempered.

Unfortunately for Jaou, one of the large frogs noticed his presence. After beating away its rival with a vicious head butt, teh frog lunged for the trio. Falathir screeched and flew off as Ganymede started to scramble back. The frog was massive, and big enough to outright swallow a tauren. As they fled, the frog let out a bellow and shot out its tongue. Ganymede was too low for its aim, and Falathir too high, but the tongue latched onto Jaou’s back. With a cry in surprise, Joau was violently yanked from the saddle, and into the maw of the massive beast. Ganymede and Falathir turned about to rescue their taken companion, but almost as soon as the frog took the night elf, it seemed to struggle to keep him in its mouth.

Jaou, now inside of the frog’s mouth, found that the amphibian was trying very hard to swallow him whole, but the elf was not going to make that easy for it. Jaou swung his left arm in a clawing motion to catch onto the roof of its mouth. He then wrestled around the tongue and took out one of his long daggers. He slashed all about his surroundings, lacerating the frog from the inside. As the struggle continued, it became more unbearable for the frog. When Jaou decided to leg go of the roog, and instead raked the tongue, the frog had enough. It spat out the ranger in a mix of blood and mucus before crawling away.

Jaou coughed, completely covered in the slimy substance as Ganymede and Falathir approached him. The night elf opened his eyes to survey himself, and with disgust, he tried in vain to wipe the mucus from his face with a growl.

“I hate these frogs...”

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

“Oi, Penxy,” Rory called out to the goblin.

“Yeah, what is it?” she replied as she was studying the totem-pillar in the middle of the room.

The two catalogued their discoveries as they came upon them, but for the better part of their time, Penxy had been busy trying to unravel the use of the totem. She discerned that it was a conduit of some sort, but the overall purpose was still a mystery to them. She had proposed that she would focus on the structure, though it was not proving to be an easy puzzle to solve.

Rory took a tome over to the warlock and handed it to her. “Found this in some rubble,” he informed her. The dwarf pointed to the structure. “Says it’s an instruction manual.”

Penxy took the book and scanned its cover, and it did indeed say it was an instruction manual. “Of course you find it now when I almost got this stupid thing figured out,” the goblin seethed. “What kind of morons have an instruction book lying around where ever anyway? If I were in charge of these laggards, I’d fry their hide for failing to destroy all of the evidence!”

“To be fair, we chased ‘em out,” the shaman replied. “And shouldn’t ye be singin’ praises they left summat fer us look at instead of criticizing their objectives?”

“But it’s so sloppy of them! I tell ya, Rory, it’s hard to get good subordinates these days. I bet these bozos couldn’t destroy evidence made out of dry leaves with a flamethrow, even if they doused it with oil and got a dragon to breathe fire on it.” The goblin shook her head, but then looked at the book with glee and leafed through the pages. “Good thing for us they aren’t my subordinates! Now let’s see what juicy info they got on this puppy.”

Rory looked off to the side for a moment, muttering, “Isn’t that what Ah’ve bin tryin’ to tell ya?”

“Hush hush now,” Penxy said, raising a pointed finger in the air. “I gotta focus my genius on soaking up all of this book. Why don’t you inspect those walls, or something?”

Rory sighed, though at the same moment, he did find Penxy’s antics and personality amusing. As he approached a wall though, there was a curious shaking. While Penxy paid it no mind, Rory could feel the elements, earth in particular, becoming agitated. It was not a natural quake. “Penxy,” he called out. She feigned ignorance and did not respond, but the shaking happened again. “Penxy!”

“Ah geez, will you pipe down?”

“Penxy, this is serious!” the dwarf exclaimed. “The earth’s shakin’!”

“Ehh, isn’t that normal?” she shrugged.

“Not this one, we gotta git outa ‘ere!” Rory yelled as he threw his hands into the air.

“But we just--”

“There ain’t no time, lass!” Rory quickly grabbed her hand and started to run for the entrance, when the roof started to give way and collapse.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Sundar had been seeing to other duties since he dropped by the site of the cavern earlier, now attending to some crafting duties to help out with the leatherworkers. It had been a while since he was able to lend a hand to the artisans, but everything lately had been going quite smooth, and he now found that he had free time to see to non-battle related work. It was a welcome change of pace.

A Forsaken hunter came into the leatherworker’s workshop and hauled a bundle of furs and hides onto the table. “A little something to help reinforce the saddle I have for order,” he stated in an echo-ridden voice.

Sundar approached the counter and inspected the hides. “I know skeletal horses are pointy in some places, but I think we can make ten saddled with these.”

“Consider the rest a donation,” the man said. “Had to do something with the hides after harvesting the meat to feed everyone and every thing here.”

“Not necessary,” the hunter said, though he looked thoughtful for a moment. “But I could use the funds to repair the homestead back on Azeroth.”

“I’ll write you up a slip for the collector’s”

The druid took out the forms pad and started to pen down the notice when there was a strange sound that echoed in the distance. He stopped for a moment, as did several others. “Did you hear something?” Sundar asked the hunter. The Forsaken shrugged. Sundar looked to the others in the workshop, and then the sound rang through the air again, this time louder.

The hunter looked at the archdruid. “I heard it this time.”

Again the haunting and penetrating sound was heard, and it was troubling how familiar it was. Soon the ground started to tremor “I am getting a bad sense of nostalgia from this.” Sundar quickly left the workshop and took to the ait in the form of a stormcrow. He circled around, trying to see if anything was amiss. He then saw it, a hulking form of metal trudging through the forests and in their direction. It contained within its mass a fel green glow and spewed out toxic gas into the air, before letting out another mechanical bellow. Sundar dove down with all speed and shifted back into his native kaldorei form, with such speed and haste, others came to see what was going on.

“Everyone, prepare for an attack!” he shouted. “We got a Fel Reaver coming!”